Orient Squad Stronger Than Last Season

Manager Simon Grayson spoke ahead of his side’s trip to the Matchroom Stadium on Tuesday night and said that the opposition will provide a difficult test despite their tough start to the season.

The O’s spent heavily on new recruits in the summer and with a new manager now in place as well, they will be hoping things gel quickly and the PNE gaffer is expecting a tough test.

“When you look at Orient’s squad it is probably slightly stronger than it has been over the last few years,” said the Lilywhites boss.

“They have brought people like Darius Henderson, Jobi McAnuff and Shane Lowry in, all experienced Championship players, if not above that.

“Russell has obviously left, they have now appointed the new manager and we will go there in good spirits. We know that on their day they can be a handful for anybody and it will be another good test for us. If we can play like we have the last few weeks then we have a great chance of getting a positive result.”

The appointment of Mauro Milanese as manager means that previous scouting reports and information on the East London outfit could go out of the window.

“It looked a few weeks ago like Kevin [Nugent] had been offered the job, but the sporting director has now taken over,” continued Simon.

“It will be hard for us to try and work out what they are going to do; does he change his personnel? Does he change how they line-up? But we have to concentrate on what we need to.

“The one advantage he will have is that he is not coming into unfamiliar ground; he will know the players because he has been on the staff for a number of weeks in whatever role he has had. We will go there, respect them, but try and build on what we have been doing the last few weeks.”

Last season’s win at the Matchroom Stadium came as a result of a big performance from the Lilwyhites and the manager is hoping for much of the same on Tuesday night.

“We know what we need to do to replicate last season’s performance and result. We have to work hard and earn our chance to play and if we can be professional in our approach and replicate what we did last year against a side who were top of the league, we would be delighted.

“It is another long trek for the players and for the supporters, but we hope to go there and send them home in good spirits,” he added.

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